US: ATF misplaced 420 million cigarettes in stings

WASHINGTON — Government agents acting without authorization conducted dozens of undercover investigations of illegal tobacco sales, misused some of $162 million in profits from the stings and lost track of at least 420 million cigarettes, the Justice Department's inspector general said Wednesday.

In one case, agents for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives sold $15 million in cigarettes and later turned over $4.9 million in profits from the sales to a confidential informant — even though the agency did not properly account for the transaction.

The ATF's newly-appointed director, B. Todd Jones, said the audit covered only selected, "historical" ATF investigations between 2006 and 2011, and said the agency had tightened its internal guidelines since then.

The audit described widespread lack of ATF oversight and inadequate paperwork in the agency's "churning investigations," undercover operations that use proceeds from illicit cigarette sales to pay for the ATF's costs. The audit came as a new blow to a beleaguered agency still reeling from congressional inquiries into the ATF's flawed handling of the Operation Fast and Furious weapons tracking probes in Mexico.

"ATF's guidance regarding churning investigations lacked breadth and specificity, and managers at ATF headquarters as well as managers and special agents at ATF field offices often disregarded it," Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz wrote in the 53-page audit.

The inspector general recommended tightened ATF procedures for documenting, tracking and reviewing proceeds from its undercover tobacco stings.

Jones said the agency has adopted most of those guidelines. While accepting responsibility for "management and oversight lapses that allowed those deficiencies to develop," he insisted that "the report's findings do not reflect current ATF policy or practice in this area."

In a written response, Horowitz approved the ATF's moves in April 2013 to tighten its standards. Horowitz cautioned that his office "has not been provided evidence to verify the sufficiency of actions taken."

Reviewing three-dozen ATF undercover cigarette stings between 2006 and 2011, the inspector general found that none of those income-generating probes had been given proper prior approval by an internal ATF review committee, as required by agency policy.

One of those sting operations did not have any approval, either from the ATF or the Justice Department. In that 2009 case, ATF officials allowed a tobacco distributor working as an ATF confidential informant to keep $4.9 million in profits from cigarette sales to criminal suspects. ATF officials justified the move by explaining the $4.9 million covered the informant's expenses. But the inspector general said the agency failed to "require the informant to provide adequate documentation to support or justify those expenses."

The remaining profits were used by agency officials to pay for a separate ATF cigarette smuggling sting — which the inspector general said violated ATF rules that profits from a "churning investigation" could only be used to fund that specific operation, not other cases.

The inspector general said shoddy documentation and inventory controls made it impossible to account for more than 2.1 million cartons of cigarettes — totaling 420 million cigarettes — during at least 20 separate ATF sting operations. The watchdog estimated the retail value of those items at $127 million.

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IHS study puts iPhone 5S production costs at $191

NEW YORK — While the iPhone 5S includes a handful of new features that set it apart from Apple's previous model, the actual cost to make the phone hasn't changed very much, according to a new study.

An IHS Inc. teardown of the new smartphone found that the components that make up a 16-gigabyte iPhone 5S cost $190.70. Manufacturing costs add another $8, bringing the total production cost to $198.70.

In comparison, the iPhone 5, which hit the market a year ago, cost $197 to make.

Andrew Rassweiler, IHS' senior director for cost benchmarking services, noted that the 5S includes features new to the smartphone world, such as a 64-bit apps processor and a fingerprint identification sensor, without a significant jump in costs.

The research firm also dissected a 16-gigabyte iPhone 5C, a cheaper version of the 5S, and put its total production cost at $173.45, including $7 in manufacturing costs.

Rassweiler said the 5C is basically an iPhone 5 wrapped in plastic, noting that it has basically the same features, but benefits from typical component price drops, along with its cheaper plastic enclosure.

The 5C has a starting sticker price of $549, but will sell for $99 with a two-year wireless contract. It's Apple's least-expensive iPhone ever and is an effort to boost sales in China and other areas where people don't have as much money to spend on new gadgets as they do in the U.S. and Europe. But critics have said that the phone is still too expensive to sell well in emerging markets.

IHS said that while it costs substantially less to produce an iPhone 5C than it did an iPhone 5, those costs are still on the high side.

It added that in order to merit the low-end smartphone pricing of $400 that many industry observers had expected, while maintaining typical Apple profit margins, the company would need to reduce its 5C production costs to about $130.

Monday Apple reported that it sold 9 million of the two new models since their launch on Friday — its strongest iPhone launch ever — and that demand was exceeding supply.

In midday trading, shares of the Cupertino, Calif., company slipped $5.98 to $483.12.

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US borrowing authority to be exhausted by Oct. 17

WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said Wednesday the government will have exhausted its borrowing authority by Oct. 17, leaving the United States just $30 billion cash on hand to pay its bills.

That's a slightly worse financial position than Treasury predicted last month and adds to the pressure on Congress to increase the government's borrowing cap soon to avert a first-ever U.S. default on its obligations.

In a letter to top congressional leaders, Lew warned that a repeat of the debt brinksmanship of 2011 could inflict great harm on the economy and that "if the government should ultimately become unable to pay all of its bills, the results could be catastrophic."

The government reached its $16.7 trillion debt limit in May. Since then, it has been using "extraordinary measures" such as suspending U.S. investments in federal employee trust funds to create about $300 billion in additional borrowing room.

But on the 17th the government will be left with only its cash cushion and daily receipts to pay its bills. Lew warned that before long it would not be able to meet all of its obligations. Economists and financial market experts warn that the stock market could plummet and that investors would demand higher returns on Treasury notes, which could raise interest rates and harm the economy.

It's generally assumed that Treasury would make sure that the government wouldn't default on Treasury notes held by investors, including foreign countries like China, If it did default on such debt obligations it could be a catastrophe for the economy.

A House-passed stopgap spending measure pending before the Senate contains a GOP-backed provision that would give Social Security recipients and bondholders priority in receiving payments from the government.

Lew again rejected the idea.

"The United States should never have to choose, for example, whether to pay Social Security to seniors, pay benefits to our veterans, or make payments to state and local jurisdictions and health care providers under Medicare and Medicaid," Mr. Lew said. "There is no way of knowing the damage any prioritization plan would have on our economy and financial markets. It would represent an irresponsible retreat from a core American value: We are a nation that honors all of its commitments."

Lew again warned that President Barack Obama would not negotiate with Republicans over the debt limit.

"The president remains willing to negotiate over the future direction of fiscal policy, but he will not negotiate over whether the United States will pay its bills for past commitments," Lew wrote. Extending borrowing authority does not increase government spending; it simply allows the Treasury to pay for expenditures Congress has already approved."

Republicans want to add budget cuts and other legislation like a one-year delay of "Obamacare." House leaders hope to bring a debt limit increase to the floor by the end of this week but they haven't released any details yet.

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Egypt shutters offices of Brotherhood newspaper

CAIRO — Egyptian security forces on Wednesday shuttered the office of the newspaper of the Muslim Brotherhood's political party and confiscated furniture and documents, journalists from the Freedom and Justice daily said.

In a statement Wednesday, the journalists appealed to Egypt's press syndicate to take action against the closure in Cairo's Manial district, where the office is now sealed.

The closure comes two days after a court ordered the group outlawed and its assets seized. Egypt's interim government however said Tuesday that it would not ban the group until the ruling is upheld by a higher tribunal.

Islam Tawfiq, an editor with the Freedom and Justice daily and a member of the Brotherhood, said the newspaper will continue to be published, and its edition for Thursday is ready for print. He said the newspaper staff had evacuated the office in June, days before mass protests against Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, under threat of attack.

The staff has been working elsewhere, he said, and only furniture, electrical appliances, and some documents were confiscated from the office. An order to ban the publication was issued a day after Morsi was ousted on July 4, he said, amid a crackdown on pro-Brotherhood media. The Brotherhood's TV channel, Misr25, has been off the air since then and was later banned by a court order.

But the state-owned Al-Ahram printers continued to publish the paper, he said, on condition it reduce its pages by half and print circulation down to 10,000 from 100,000. The orders came from security authorities, he said.

The shuttering of the newspaper appears to be part of an extensive crackdown on the Brotherhood since Morsi's ouster, after millions took to the streets demanding his resignation.

Tawfiq said the newspaper staff was informed by press syndicate officials that the office, which served as the historic headquarters of the Brotherhood under now deposed President Hosni Mubarak, was closed not as a political party property but as a property of the Brotherhood.

He said however that the ownership had changed following the official registration of the political party in 2011.

The paper was informed, he said, on Wednesday that prosecutors ordered the closure late last month, nearly three weeks before a court decision to ban the group and seize its assets.

A security official couldn't immediately explain the discrepancy between the two claims. He added that the paper had only rented parts of the building as its office. The security official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

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USPS seeks increase in cost of stamps, to 49 cents

WASHINGTON — It soon could cost 49 cents to mail a letter.

The postal Board of Governors said Wednesday it wants to raise the price of a first-class stamp by 3 cents, citing the agency's "precarious financial condition" and the uncertain prospects for postal overhaul legislation in Congress.

"Of the options currently available to the Postal Service to align costs and revenues, increasing postage prices is a last resort that reflects extreme financial challenges," board chairman Mickey Barnett wrote customers.

The rate proposal must be approved by the independent Postal Regulatory Commission. If the commission accepts it, the increase would become effective Jan. 26.

Under federal law the post office cannot raise its prices more than the rate of inflation unless it gets approval from the commission. In seeking the increase, Barnett cited "extraordinary and exceptional circumstances which have contributed to continued financial losses" by the agency.

As part of the rate increase request, the cost for each additional ounce of first-class mail would increase a penny to 21 cents while the price of mailing a postcard would rise by a cent, to 34 cents. The cost to mail a letter to an international destination would jump 5 cents to $1.15.

Many consumers won't feel the increase immediately. Forever stamps bought before an increase still would cover first-class postage. The price of new forever stamps would be at the higher rate, if approved.

The Postal Service also said it would ask for adjustment to bulk mail and package rates in a filing with the commission Thursday. No details were immediately provided.

Media and marketing businesses say a big increase in rates could hurt them and lower postal volume and revenues.

The post office expects to lose $6 billion this year and is seeking help from Congress to fix its finances.

Barnett said the increase, if approved, would generate $2 billion annually in revenue for his agency.

The agency last raised postage rates on Jan. 27, including a penny increase in the cost of first-class mail to 46 cents.

Congress is considering cost-cutting moves that include ending Saturday mail delivery and most door-to-door delivery. The agency says ending Saturday mail delivery would save $2 billion each year. But many lawmakers, along with postal worker unions, have resisted such changes, saying they would inconvenience customers.

The Postal Service supports the proposed delivery changes. It also is seeking to reduce its $5.6 billion annual payment for future retiree health benefits. It missed two of those $5.6 billion payments last year, one deferred from the previous year, and is expected to miss another at the end of this month when its fiscal year ends.

Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe was to appear before a Senate panel on Thursday to press lawmakers for swift action on legislation to fix his agency's finances.

Donahue has said that without help from Congress, the agency expects its multibillion-dollar annual losses to worsen. He has warned that the agency's cash liquidity remains dangerously low.

The Postal Service is an independent agency that receives no tax dollars for its day-to-day operations but is subject to congressional control.

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Governor signs bill hiking California minimum wage

LOS ANGELES — Gov. Jerry Brown has put his signature on a bill that will hike California's minimum wage to $10 an hour within three years.

The legislation signed Wednesday will raise the current minimum of $8 an hour to $9 on July 1, 2014, and then to $10 on Jan. 1, 2016.

It's the first increase in California's minimum wage in six years.

Brown has called the bill an overdue piece of legislation that will help working-class families.

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Amazon unveils Kindle Fire HDX with 24/7 live help

SEATTLE — Amazon is refreshing its lineup of tablet computers with new devices called Kindle Fire HDX, which are significantly faster and lighter than the previous generation.

The 7-inch and 8.9-inch versions also have sharper, more colorful displays than older models, and both have more pixels per inch than the latest iPad.

To help those who are unfamiliar with tablets, the new Kindles come with a feature called "Mayday," which allows users to summon a live customer service representative in a tiny video window. The helpers can explain new features or troubleshoot problems while guiding users with on-screen hand scribbles. They can even take control of the device from afar.

CEO Jeff Bezos introduced the feature to reporters Tuesday, saying it is "completely unique" and takes advantage of Amazon's massive cloud computing and customer service infrastructure. It also builds on Amazon.com Inc.'s reputation for excellent customer service.

"You shouldn't have to be afraid of your device," Bezos said.

In a demo, Bezos asked an on-screen customer service rep to recommend a hot app. The rep mentioned "Angry Birds: Star Wars II." Bezos also received instructions on how to set time limits on various activities for children.

While the new Kindles are upgraded in several ways, Amazon also cut the price on what will be its entry-level 7-inch tablet, the Kindle Fire HD with 8 gigabytes of memory, to $139. The base HD model previously cost $199, but had 16 gigabytes of memory. The price makes the tablet just $20 more than Amazon's latest dedicated e-reader, the Kindle Paperwhite. The Kindle Fire HD is sheathed in a new magnesium alloy body like the HDX models, but has the same screen resolution and processing power of the older model. However, it drops the front-facing camera and microphone found in last year's HD.

Stephen Baker, a consumer technology analyst with research firm NPD Group, said the price cut to the Kindle Fire HD will do more to help Amazon compete in the tablet market than the added features on the newer models.

"That's where that model needs to be priced," Baker said, explaining that there are numerous manufacturers with tablets with screens that measure 7 inches diagonally — all priced around $150. "A big focus in that 7-inch category is just price."

In the May-July period, Kindles accounted for 17 percent of all tablets sold in the U.S., compared with 48 percent for Apple's iPad and 8 percent for Samsung's Galaxy line, according to NPD.

Globally, Amazon's shipments in the April-June quarter were down 59 percent from a year earlier at 470,000, NPD said. That compared with 14.6 million for Apple's iPad, down 17 percent from a year ago, and 10.8 million for Samsung's Galaxy line, which is more than six times more than a year earlier. Amazon sells most of its Kindles around the Christmas holidays, Baker said.

The Kindle HDX models come with Qualcomm's quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor, which is top of the line for tablets. Amazon said they are three times faster than the older Kindle Fire line. For graphics functions, the HDX models are four times faster than before.

Beyond the improved specifications, Amazon also unveiled more features that incorporate data from its IMDb movie database business. With the newer tablets, users who turn on the "X-ray" feature can see a small window that lists the name of a song that is playing in some TV shows and movies. One tap brings up the option to buy the song. Users can also look for all music in a show and zip to the exact spot where a particular song is playing.

People who have set up Amazon's video player as an app on their Internet-connected TVs or through game consoles can also follow along in real time on their tablets, getting information on actors and trivia related to the shows on the big screen.

Music lovers can see song lyrics when they play songs purchased from Amazon. Lyrics are highlighted as they are sung. Tapping on the lyrics will zip to the appropriate point in the song.

Bezos said these services are only possible because Amazon provides the hardware, operating system, applications, cloud infrastructure and services for the devices. The "hardest and coolest" services such as its "Mayday" service lie at the intersection of "customer delight" and "deep integration through the entire stack," he said.

Amazon also unveiled new "origami covers" that lie flat when closed over the screen but can be folded and snapped into place as a stand that works both in horizontal and vertical position. They'll come in seven different colors and be sold separately for between $45 and $70.

The 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HDX starts at $379 for 16 gigabytes of memory, while the 7-inch starts at $229 also with 16 gigabytes. Buyers can order them starting Wednesday. The 7-inch will ship Oct. 18, while the 8.9-inch will ship starting Nov. 7.

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Follow Ryan Nakashima on Twitter at https://twitter.com/rnakashi

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Cruz ends talkathon, Senate heads toward vote

WASHINGTON — Tea party conservative Sen. Ted Cruz ended his all-night talkathon to dismantle President Barack Obama's health care law after 21 hours and 19 minutes as the Senate pushed ahead to a test vote Wednesday on a bill to avert a government shutdown.

Weary after a day and night on his feet, Cruz simply sat down at 12 noon EDT, the predetermined time for the Senate to adjourn, as several of his colleagues applauded. Senate Republicans and some House members congratulated the Texas freshman.

As Cruz' allotted speaking time was nearing its end, he offered to skip the initial vote and shorten debate on the underlying stopgap spending bill that's required to avert a partial government shutdown after midnight on Monday.

Cruz wants to derail the spending bill to deny Democrats the ability to strip a "defund Obamacare" provision out, a strategy that has put him at odds with other Republicans who fear that the move would spark a shutdown. After the vote, Cruz told reporters he hopes "that Republicans will listen to the people, and that all 46 Republicans come together. Coming into this debate we clearly were not united, there were significant divisions in the conference. I hope those divisions dissolve, that we come together in party unity."

He added: "Otherwise, I will say this: Any senator who votes with Majority Leader Harry Reid and the Democrats to give Majority Leader Harry Reid the ability to fund Obamacare on a pure 51-vote, party vote, has made the decision to allow Obamacare to be funded."

The Senate's top Democrat, Majority Leader Harry Reid, said a preliminary test vote would go ahead as planned. Reid shrugged off Cruz' effort.

"For lack of a better way of describing this, it has been a big waste of time," Reid said.

Since Tuesday afternoon, Cruz — with occasional remarks by Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and other GOP conservatives — has controlled the Senate floor and railed against Obamacare. At 10:41 a.m. EDT Wednesday, Cruz and his allies reached the 20-hour mark, the fourth-longest Senate speech since precise record-keeping began in 1900.

That exceeded March's 12-hour, 52-minute speech by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., like Cruz a tea party lawmaker and potential 2016 presidential contender, and filibusters by such Senate icons as Huey Long of Louisiana and Robert Byrd of West Virginia.

Cruz' hours of speaking now stands as the fourth-longest filibuster — a delaying tactic to prevent the Senate from passing legislation. However, Reid and others disputed that it was a real filibuster as a vote was scheduled that would end the debate.

With no food or restroom breaks, his tie finally loosened, Cruz was helped by eight of his conservative allies who gave him brief respites by asking lengthy questions as permitted under Senate rules, though he was required to remain on his feet.

Cruz said he has learned that defying party leaders is "survivable," adding, "Ultimately, it is liberating" and that his long evening involved "sometimes some pain, sometimes fatigue."

But he added, "You know what? There's far more pain in rolling over. ... Far more pain in not standing up for principle."

Republican leaders and several rank-and-file GOP lawmakers had opposed Cruz's time-consuming effort with the end of the fiscal year looming. They fear that Speaker John Boehner and House Republicans won't have enough time to respond to the Senate's eventual action.

Two financial deadlines loom — keeping the government operating after Oct. 1 and raising the nation's borrowing authority. In a letter to Congress on Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said the government will have exhausted its borrowing authority by Oct. 17, leaving the United States with just $30 billion cash on hand to pay its bills.

That's a slightly worse financial position than Treasury predicted last month and it adds to the pressure on Congress to increase the government's borrowing cap to avert a first-ever U.S. default on its obligations.

Determined to pressure the Democrats, Republicans have raised the possibility of adding a one-year delay to the individual mandate of the health care law to any legislation to raise the borrowing authority.

Paul, who has questioned Cruz's tactics, gave the admittedly tired Texan a respite Wednesday morning by joining the debate and criticizing Obamacare. But in a reflection of the limited GOP support for Cruz' effort, no members of the Senate leadership came to the Texan's aid.

The House-passed measure is required to prevent a government shutdown after midnight Monday and contains a tea party-backed provision to "defund" implementation of what's come to be known as "Obamacare". Cruz is opposed to moving ahead on it under debate terms choreographed by Democrats to defeat the Obamacare provision.

Senate rules are working against Cruz, who also has angered many GOP colleagues who complain privately that the freshman has set impossible expectations at the expense of other Republicans. Some of Cruz's leading allies include organizations like the Senate Conservatives Fund and the Club for Growth, organizations which frequently donate money to conservatives challenging more moderate Republicans in primaries.

At issue is a temporary spending bill required to keep the government fully open after the Oct. 1 start of the new budget year. Hard-charging conservatives like Cruz see the measure as an opportunity to use a must-pass measure to try to derail Obama's signature health care law.

In a direct rebuttal to Cruz, Republican Sen. John McCain offered a history lesson on how Republicans had tried to stop the health care law in 2009 and rejected Cruz' statement equating those unwilling to vote to stop Obamacare with Nazi appeasers.

"To somehow allege that many of us haven't fought hard enough does not comport with the actual legislation that took place on the floor of the Senate," McCain said in a Senate speech in which he noted that several of Cruz' allies were elected after the health care fight.

McCain read aloud Cruz' comments last night comparing his foes to former British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlin and others unwilling to take on Adolf Hitler and the Nazi government.

"I resoundingly reject that allegation," McCain said. "It does a great disservice to those Americans who stood up and said what's happening in Europe cannot stand."

Under pressure from Cruz and tea party activists, House GOP leaders added the anti-Obamacare language to the funding measure despite fears it could spark a partial government shutdown that could hurt Republicans in the run-up to midterm elections next year — just as GOP-driven government shutdowns in 1995-96 help revive the political fortunes of President Bill Clinton.

"I just don't believe anybody benefits from shutting the government down, and certainly Republicans don't," said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. "We learned that in 1995."

Cruz took the floor at 2:41 p.m. Tuesday, vowing to speak until he's "no longer able to stand." Wearing black athletic shoes, he filled the time in a largely empty chamber, criticizing the law and comparing the fight to the battle against the Nazis. He talked about the Revolutionary War, the Washington ruling class and his Cuban-born father who worked as a cook.

Missing from the debate were top Republicans like Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Cruz's home-state GOP colleague John Cornyn, who say that on a second vote later this week, they will support ending Cruz's effort to derail the funding bill. That vote is crucial because it would allow top Reid of Nevada to kill the Obamacare provision on a simple majority, instead of the 60 votes often needed for victory.

Democrats control the chamber with 54 votes.

"I think we'd all be hard-pressed to explain why we were opposed to a bill that we're in favor of," McConnell told reporters Tuesday. "And invoking cloture on a bill that defunds Obamacare ... strikes me as a no-brainer."

The overnight debate included some diversions.

Despite his tenacity, Cruz did not surpass the longest Senate speech on record, a 24-hour, 18-minute filibuster by South Carolina Sen. Strom Thurmond against the civil rights act in 1957.

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Associated Press reporters Alan Fram and Donna Cassata contributed to this report.

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Broker ICAP paying $87M to settle LIBOR charges

WASHINGTON — Britain's ICAP PLC has agreed to pay about $87 million to settle U.S. and U.K charges of manipulating a key global interest rate, the fourth financial firm sanctioned in the international rate-rigging scandal.

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission said Wednesday that ICAP, the world's largest broker of trades between banks, engaged in rigging of the London interbank offered rate, or LIBOR, from October 2006 to January 2011.

Separately, U.S. prosecutors filed criminal charges in Manhattan on Wednesday against three former ICAP brokers, saying they hurt the integrity of the financial markets by taking part in the scheme.

Brokers Darrell Read of New Zealand and Daniel Wilkinson and Colin Goodman of Britain were each charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and two counts of wire fraud. They face a maximum 30 years in prison for each of three counts.

A British banking trade group sets the LIBOR every morning after international banks submit estimates of what it costs them to borrow. The rate affects trillions of dollars in contracts around the world, including mortgages, bonds and consumer loans.

Britain's Barclays Bank and Royal Bank of Scotland, and UBS, Switzerland's biggest bank, have paid a total $2.5 billion to settle charges of rigging the LIBOR.

Other banks, including Citigroup Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co, are being investigated.

Britain's Financial Conduct Authority fined ICAP $22.4 million, while the CFTC levied a $65 million penalty against the firm. ICAP also agreed to take steps to ensure the accuracy of the interest rate information it submits.

London-based ICAP said in a statement it has been cooperating with a criminal investigation by the U.S. Justice Department.

"We deeply regret and strongly condemn the inexcusable actions of the brokers who sought to assist certain bank traders in their efforts to manipulate" LIBOR, said ICAP Chief Executive Officer Michael Spencer.

The misconduct at ICAP involved a large number of brokers, including two managers, the regulators said.

One broker, known as "Lord LIBOR" or "Mr. LIBOR," engaged in manipulation to aid a favored client of ICAP who was a trader at UBS in Japan, according to the CFTC.

UBS made at least 330 written requests to ICAP brokers for inaccurate interest-rate information, the regulators said.

Weak supervision by ICAP allowed the misconduct to continue for more than four years, they said.

"Any market participant who seeks to undermine the integrity of a global benchmark interest rate must be held accountable," CFTC Enforcement Director David Meister said in a statement.

The process of setting the LIBOR has come under scrutiny since Barclays bank admitted in June 2012 that it had submitted false information to keep the rate low. Barclays agreed to pay a $453 million fine, and its chief executive and chairman both resigned soon afterward.

A number of U.S. cities and municipal agencies have filed lawsuits against some of the banks that set the LIBOR rate. They are seeking damages for losses suffered as a result of an artificially low rate. Local governments hold bonds and other investments whose value is pegged to LIBOR.

Under a change announced in July, the London-based company that owns the New York Stock Exchange, NYSE Euronext, will take over supervising the setting of LIBOR from the British Bankers' Association. The changeover is scheduled to be completed by early next year.

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Survey: 15 percent of Americans don't go online

NEW YORK — The Internet has become so entwined in their lives that many Americans might have trouble coping without it. But a new survey found that some 15 percent of Americans — about 1 in 7 — don't use the Internet at all. Most of them prefer it that way.

The study released Wednesday by the Pew Research Center's Internet and American Life Project also found that another 9 percent of U.S. adults only use the Internet when they are not at home. Adults with lower levels of income and education, as well as blacks and Hispanics, are significantly more likely to rely on Internet access outside of their home, in libraries, at work or elsewhere.

Of the people who don't go online, only 8 percent want to. The rest said they are not interested.

Nearly everyone who goes online has broadband access, the report found. Only 3 percent of people who use the Internet do so using a dial-up connection.

Internet use has increased steadily since Pew began doing the survey. In 1995, only 14 percent of Americans said they went online. By 2000, half were online and by 2007, three-quarters.

As in previous years, age, income, education level and race have a lot to do with who is and isn't online. Forty-four percent of people 65 or older are not online, compared with 2 percent of those aged 18 to 29. Of people who have not graduated from high school, 41 percent don't go online, compared with 4 percent of those with a college degree.

Nearly a quarter of people with household incomes of less than $30,000 per year are offline, compared with 4 percent of those with $75,000 or more. Gender didn't seem to make a difference in whether someone went online or not. Eighty-five percent of men use the Internet, along with 84 percent of women.

Here are some of the reasons people gave for not going online:

— 34 percent think the Internet is not relevant to them — they are not interested, don't want to use it or don't need it.

— 13 percent don't have a computer, 7 percent don't have Internet access and 6 percent said it's too expensive.

— Three percent said they are worried about things such as privacy, viruses, spam or hackers.

— Four percent think it's a waste of time. That doesn't stop the rest of us, though.

— Nearly a third of people cited usability for not going online. This includes people who say they are too old or physically unable to get online because they have poor eyesight or are disabled, along with people who find it too difficult to use. Those who worry about privacy and such are also lumped into this category.

The survey of 2,252 U.S. adults was conducted from April 17 to May 19 on landline and mobile phones. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.3 percentage points.

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Online: http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2013/Non-internet-users.aspx

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